The 74-year -old retired Mkushi farmer accused of causing the death of 50 people in a road traffic accident in Chibombo last month has been committed to the High Court for trial.
Kabwe Principal Resident Magistrate John Mbuzi committed Abraham Van Eeden to the High Court after receiving instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Mr Mbuzi said the case is triable by the High Court and the accused would now be appearing in the Higher Court on a date to be communicated.
Earlier State prosecutor Susan Mwakalombe applied to the court to have one of the counts be deleted as count 30 and 37 were appearing twice.
Defence lawyer Mulilo Kabesha from Kabesha and Company did not object to the application which the court granted.
This means that the accused is faced with 50 counts and not 51.
This is in matter in which the accused whilst driving a Toyota Land Cruiser registration number ABH 2214 is alleged to have caused the death of 50 people by dangerous driving contrary to the Laws of Zambia.
He is alleged to have caused the death of the 50 following a road accident in Chibombo district involving a Zampost bus and a truck.
Recently the High Court granted a K15 million cash bail and ordered that the accused surrenders the passport to court and ordered that he reports himself to the nearest police station every after two weeks.
This was after lawyers representing the accused from Kabesha and A Woods and Company appealed to the High Court against magistrate Mbuzi’s decision to deny him bail on grounds of his nationality and that the said investment in Zambia had not been tabulated.
In granting the bail, Kabwe High Court Judge Eddie Sikazwe granted the accused a K5 million cash bail with two working sureties in a sum of K5 million each.
Magistrate Mbuzi had rejected the bail application despite the defence lawyers submitting to the court that the accused person was a well known person who has invested heavily in the country and was of fixed abode and that he has problems and that keeping him in cells will be unfair.
We hope the rule of law shall apply fairly in this case. This case required adequate investigation by experienced and professional investigators in such crimes. It is very hard to prove who is wrong in such cases. We hope the government and other stake holders have a learned a lesson from this and we hope they are putting in place new structures or ideas to reduce road traffic accidents. It is not a surprise that such accidnets occur in Zambia when you still have colonial road network plans. Rather than sorting the rail way first we should have firstly put priority in revamping and redesigning the road netowkr system in the country. Its liek wanting to run before u can crawl.
I don’t think this Man intended to cause the accident & jailing him won’t solve anything,despite the tragedy….
Prosecuting someone is not always about sloving something that happened but also about detarring others from the conduct under prosecution.
Is it because he is a white rich farmer and that is why you are trying to justify the accident. No one is saying he started off with intention to kill however, the law is such that careless driving leading to death of people is punishable. It will definitely be a charge of Manslaughter due to careless driving.
Tell that to the relatives of the deceased…What has the amount of investment he has in the country got to do with wreckless driving and causng the death of other innocent road users…I may ask ?????
Zambians are so docile !!!!
What kind of inferiority complex is that ?????? He may be white…..but he is still human flesh and blood….just like those people who perished on that fateful day !!! What nonsense is this ?????
He needs to be charged with multiple murder due to reckless driving !!!!!!
I hope he never intended to cause that acdent, if govt can exercise linienc on him the better. Yes its painful but acident is ………………..
wished you and your entire family. are the one who perished in that fateful accident
The USA government does not give bail to terrorists why should we give him bail. He is terrorist trained by al qaeda in yemen. he was sent by KSM.
Just start building the bloody dual carriages, sending this man to jail may not bring back the lost lives but it will serve as a lesson to those drunk and careless drivers
just hang him as well..
This man has been framed.He didn’t cause the accident.Unfortunately the story that he tried to overtake is more sensational and sells papers.The truth will come out in the end.
Oil scam you charge 500M bail whilest killing of 50 pipo you charge 15M bail . Please Please Please
bail for this murderer should ve been 1 billion not pocket change of 15 million only.
Who said he intended to cause the accident? By the way who intends to cause accidents? HE CAUSED THE ACCIDENT BY HIS DANGEROUS DRIVING! WHY DIDN’T HE FOLLOW THE ROAD TRAFFIC RULES? THE FACT THAT HE DIDN’T FOLLOW TRAFFIC RULES BY TRYING TO OVERTAKE ON A CURVE IS DANGEROUS DRIVING AND AGAINST THE LAWS OF ZAMBIA. HIS SELFISHNESS ON THE ROAD CAUSED THE DEATH OF OUR 50 BELOVED RELATIVES. LAW IS LAW AND SHOULD BE APPLIED TO ANYONE. DO YOU KNOW HOW THE VICTIMS FAMILY ARE AFFECTED BY THAT OLD MAN CARELESS DRIVING? DON’T COMMENT ON MATTERS THAT DOES’T AFFECT AFFECT YOU.
So, do you think you are shouting when writing in capital letters? How sad!
100% agree with you brother. His seltfish and inept thinking caused death to 50 innocent people. Sending this guy to jail is enforcing the law and set that deterrent to would be motorists in zambia. I don’t like when people stop thinking and start sympathising with a criminal. Send him to jail and justice will be saved to bereaved families period!
AGREEEEEED with Shimpundu !!!!!! And I am shouting !!!
Take him away from people he may cause another one
@ Cat Power, who tells u that when one uses capital letters it means he’s shouting?its you who think ShiMpundu is shouting. Have u seen any exclamation marks in his writing?. I conquer with ShiMpundu and the people, cage the criminal.
@ Useless Boma, I don’t think the having dual carriage ways is the ultimate solution. Off course it will reduce on accidents caused through overtaking but don’t you think overspending will be high resulting to more accidents. The solution is drivers attitude on our roads, having 7-10 lanes wont help if drivers fail to be responsible on the roads.
But we have yet to understand exactly how he is supposed to have caused this accident. Can a small car force a bus? Someone should explain, not just reporting “this one caused the accident”
ba “Useless Boma”….who told you accidents dont happen on dual carriage ways….the root cause is dangarous driving ….finish.
No where did I say accidents don’t happen on dual carriage ways. you obviously can’t comprehend a simple sentence. You just want to argue just because you can. typical Zambian